Posts from the ‘Nature and Science Education’ Category

I’m honored to have had two images chosen by the Blackstone Heritage Corridor and National Park Service for inclusion in their 2018 Calendar. Both are from the River Bend Farm National Heritage Corridor in Uxbridge, Massachusetts. I’ve mentioned this location before. This portion of the National Heritage Corridor explores the Blackstone Canal, which was constructed in 1827-28 running from Worcester, Massachusetts to Providence, Rhode Island. The Canal was open for only two decades and was considered a business failure. Inspired by the success of the Erie Canal in New York, the Blackstone Canal was to provide relatively inexpensive and fairly rapid transportation along this developing corridor. It’s history turned out to be torturous as it was initially thought to be a boon for the growing cotton mill industry along the Blackstone River. Soon however, the Mill owners were suing the Canal owners over the use of water from the River. This on the heels of the conflicts between the areas farmers and industrialists over water use.

This section of the Canal has been restored. The tow path runs along the Canal and was used by Ox and Mules to power the boats that navigated the canal. For July:

Both of these images show an unusually wide portion of the Canal which was for the most part extremely narrow. For November:

The work of the National Park Service as well as the states of Rhode Island and Massachusetts here in the Blackstone Corridor helps us to try and grapple with the very complex intersections between the natural environment, entrepreneurship, social policy and social justice that took place and still are in play in the Corridor. As I’ve pointed out, the Blackstone River was one of the Rivers that actually provoked the Clean Water Act, signed by that noted environmentalist, Richard Nixon…(hey, he signed it, so good for him). The lessons from the Corridor are lessons that evolve over hundreds of years. It is not easy for us to understand those lessons for that very reason, but by holding the discussion, we can perhaps make progress.

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of attending the second annual Biodiversity Festival hosted by the Corridor, in Lincoln, Rhode Island. It was inspiring to see so many people, including our wonderful daughter Molly, who are engaged in trying to protect our environment. Molly works at the Northern Rhode Island Conservation District. These folks engage in a wide variety of environmental and educational activities with the goal of protecting the drinking water for a large number of Rhode Island citizens. Drinking water….kind of important I think. One lesson is clear: protect that which is essential to our lives.

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I wanted to let folks know that I was fortunate enough to have one of my images selected by the Northern Valley Art League in Redding, California for their upcoming International Juried Photography Show. The juror was Jack Fulton of the San Francisco Art Institute. Northern Valley Art League is a significant supporter of the arts in northern California. I’m very grateful for their support. The image chosen was of the Spillway at the Quabbin Reservoir.

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I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving. We did, it was great spending time with family as always. I had much to be thankful for this year, including a more experimental attitude. Why not?

I’ve been exploring the Blackstone River area in Massachusetts over the last few months. It is striking just how much psychological as well as environmental territory the River covers. Though it remains quite polluted from centuries of exploitation, stretches of the River are quite beautiful and natural. Other stretches are, more complex. No stretch of the River though, at least that I have traveled, requires more effort to understand than the Blackstone Valley Bike Trail in Worcester, Massachusetts, where the River originates. Along this two mile or so stretch you will see the River, a super highway (Route 146), an active freight train yard and line, as well as legacy tracks, a Walmart and Sam’s Club, trees being cut by a beaver, beautiful small falls and rapids, trash and signs that say stay away from the water for health reasons. It’s all right there. Nature and civilization crash into one another at top speed in places and this is one of those locations.

I have photographed there for months, searching for the right way to capture the feel of such a complex place. I’d used most every technological trick I could think of, but ultimately wasn’t satisfied. I decided to go back and try again, this time with black and white film. Digital is just capable of making pictures that are too perfect for this location it seemed to me. Nothing about this location says “perfection.” This work, like this location, is incomplete and some of the images you see here may not survive the next cut. This is where things stand though at the moment.

Shooting on film is interesting of course. I realize that the look can be replicated in software using a digital means of capture. But that somehow doesn’t seem quite right at times. What is really different about shooting on film is the process. You do indeed slow down. You have to for economic reasons if nothing else. For a time, you have to step away from the technological (rat) race. It’s quite refreshing.

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As readers of this blog know by now, one of my main concerns about how we think about our environment is, actually, how little we think about it. We take for granted so much without questioning what supports our lives. The food shows up at the grocery story, the water in the faucet and the oxygen that sustains us in the atmosphere. I live in central Massachusetts and work in eastern Massachusetts. Most people in eastern Massachusetts don’t know where their water comes from, the Quabbin Reservoir. So my mission is in part educational. As such, I’ve been working more with video as a media for engaging with people about the source of their water. This has involved creating short videos that hopefully take the viewer to the source of their water and at least help them connect a few dots.

With that as background, here is a short two minute trip along two sections of the Middle Branch of the Swift River, one of the most important sources of water that goes into the Quabbin Reservoir. I’m shooting from two locations, one the Bear’s Den and the second, where the Middle Branch cuts through the Quabbin Reservation, closer to the Reservoir itself. You can reach both in New Salem. Both are rather tame walks (but see my warning below). I find both of these locations compelling and have posted still imagery from there many times. I hadn’t been back in a year or two, much had changed, though much remained the same.

A word of warning and a request. Posting video online is not as satisfying as you might think given that every one seems to be doing it these days. Most services compress the video severely and if you’re used to good photography, you notice this immediately. Second and more seriously for me, most of you read my blog as subscribers. You have it e-mailed to you and WordPress does not always embed the video properly, meaning you may not see it. This happened a few months ago, to my chagrin.

Trying something different this time, I’ve actually uploaded this version to WordPress itself rather than embed it from Vimeo. However, If you can’t see it, clickhere and you’ll go right to the video as posted on Vimeo. Regardless, make sure you’re watching the HD version by clicking on HD in the lower right hand corner of your video screen. You’ll know to do that if the quality of the video is particularly annoying. If the preview version I can see is any indication, you will need to click HD to get the higher quality view.

On the hazards of nature photography. When we go out into the field, we are actually quite careful. Tics are everywhere and they are particularly dangerous in New England. So we are fully covered regardless of the temperature. No sandals, short sleeves, etc. Never, even when it’s really hot. But that isn’t always enough to protect you it seems. I’d been to this location many times but evidently this is where I contracted poison ivy, or something like that. Even though I didn’t think I was excessively allergic to poison ivy, I have never been cavalier about it. Your reaction can change over time with aging. This time something went wrong and the poison ivy mixed with something else and left me severely ill. The treatment, prednisone was just as bad as the disease as some of you know. It finally seems to be working now thankfully. I got some good medical care along the way, including from an excellent Dermatologist. Just as I was leaving his office, he shared a rather bone chilling observation that he said all his dermatology friends had been pondering over the past few years. Poison ivy is getting much more virulent. They don’t know why. I have no expertise in this area other than what I’ve learned over the past month so I can’t verify his statement, but he’s a good doc and very well trained. So why am I saying all this? If you’re old enough you may remember a pretty good police show, Hill Street Blues. The desk sergeant at the precinct had a way of closing his start of shift meetings that came to mind recently: And hey…..be careful out there.

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Welcome to the environmental photography and sustainability blog of James M. Hunt. Chris, my wife, and I care deeply about our natural environment and in particular those places, beings and phenomena that may not get the attention that they deserve, in spite of their importance. Since the places we tend to frequent may receive a bit less attention, we're often engaged in a process of discovery ourselves. We'll let you know here something of what we learn along the way. Thanks for taking the time to join us.

All images on this site are copyright (c) James M. Hunt, 2010 through 2018 all rights are reserved. No use of any image posted here without written consent.
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James is also the proprietor of Fine Art Printing of Westborough, a printing, scanning, and photo restoration business operating in Westborough, Massachusetts. You can see the link below. Inquiries are welcomed!